GLUCK+’s Green-Roofed Pavilion Pool House Melts Into the Landscape of Lake George, NY

GLUCK+ designed this gorgeous green-roofed pool pavilion for the shores of Lake George, New York. The team sought to make the building blend into the landscape, so they gave it a low profile and covered it with a verdant layer of grass. The project was designed for a family property, and it anchors the surrounding living quarters with fields, terraces, patios, an office, and an indoor lap pool.

GLUCK+ topped the roof of the Pool Pavilion with sod to create an upper terrace and a large playing field. The lake, pool, gym and internal courtyard are linked to the fields by sod ramps and stairs. Clad in locally-quarried blue stone, the external walls wrap the structure and serve as the only demarcated line between the landscape and the building.

The pool is surrounded by continuous planes of low iron glass and large sliding panels that act as a link between the inside and the outside. A small box-like structure emerges from the courtyard, where it serves as a lookout for the residents, giving a 180-degree view of the lake and forest.

Massive overhangs protect the interiors from direct sunlight, the thick walls and roof have high thermal mass which reduces heat exchange, and the green roof helps to infiltrate storm water runoff.